Takayama Festival (Spring and Autumn), Keep your eyes on Karakuri doll’s performance
In Spring, the Karakuri doll scatters a lot of cherry blossoms to commemorate the arrival of spring. In Autumn, one small Karakuri doll moves by hanging and moving across several bars one by one riding piggyback on the Hotei, who is known as a deity of good luck. People watch its success breathlessly. Once it […]
Explore Tokyo’s Imperial Palace: Edo Castle Ruins and the Legacy of the Samurai Era
Explore Tokyo’s Imperial Palace: Edo Castle Ruins and the Legacy of the Samurai Era
Nijo-jo Castle Watched the Rise and Fall of Tokugawa Shogunate
Nijo-jo Castle - a UNESCO World Heritage and National Treasure site - is a residence of successive Tokugawa shoguns in Kyoto. This stunning castle had witnessed the growth, development, fall, and eventual end of the Tokugawa shogunate. What was the final stage of the Tokugawa shogunate that Nijo-jo Castle saw? How did the last shogun, […]
Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura, The Birthplace of The Samurai Government
Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, the birthplace of the Samurai government esta blished by Minamoto Yoritomo in 1185 in Kamakura.
Why was Nagoya Castle built? For the iron defense of the Tokugawa Shogunate
Nagoya Castle was built by a warlord, Tokugawa Ieyasu, as a solid fortress in 1612, just two years before the Winter Siege of Osaka against the Toyotomi clan. After Ieyasu's victory, Nagoya Castle kept the Western lords in check in the middle of the Tokaido road connecting Edo (Tokyo) and Osaka. He was eager to […]